Improvement in torpedoes for oil-wells



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No. 85,730,v

submerged.

UNITED' S"fr urrns 1PA-TENT OFFICE- F'Rnnn'nroxonooxnn, on TI'TUsvILLn,PENNsYLvANIA.-v

IMPROVEMENT IN ToRPEDoEs Fonv oit-WELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 85,730, dated January12,1869. i

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, FREDERICK Gnocxnn, of the city of Titusville, countyof Crawford,

vand State of Pennsylvania, have invented cerv .tain new andusefullmprovements in Torpedoes for Use in Oil and other Artesian Wells;

plosive material, lowered to theproper depth,

and exploded.

Various devices and arrangements are in use for igniting the shell;among others, that of a percussion-cap, placed in the center of thetorpedo-cap, and ignited by means of a weight dropped from the top ofthe well, the ame from the cap igniting a small quantity of powder`Within apriming-chamber, and from thence communicating with the powderat the upper end ofthe shell, or, in many cases, communicatin g directlywith said powder, without lthe intervention of a priming-chamber.

W'hen the percussion-cap is used a small plunger or hammer is suspendedover and almost in contact with it, said hammer receiving the blow fromthe falling weight and imparting it to the cap, and a rubber packing isnecessarily wrapped around the hammer and nipple after thepercussion-cap is inserted to render the shell impervious to water whenUnder the above arrangement many premature explosions have occurred frompieces of rock and other foreign substances falling into or droppingdown from the sides of the well and upon the hammer while the shell isbeing lowered to its place.

The object of my invention is to so arrange the igniting apparatus thatthere shall be no risk of premature ignition from falling substances,and no packing required around any part of the shell; and an equallyimportant part of my invention is my improved arrangement fordistributing the iiame from the cap y or cartridge throughout ktheentire length of the shell at practically the same instant.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical section of my torpedo;Fig. 2, a horizontal section on line A B; and Fig. 3, a horizontalsection on line C D.

a represents the cylindrical shell, madel preferably of cast metal,closed at the lower end by a screw-plug, b, and at the upper end by acap, c. The central portion of said cap is made of the conical formshown, and the shell is lowered into the well by means of a rope or wireattached to the apex vof the cone d. Around the base of said cone two ormore smallholes,`c c, are drilled through the cap, and a common pistolor riie cartridge, f, is inserted into each, iitting closely thereto, asin the breech-loading rifle, so that no specialv packing is requiredaround them.

When the shell is lowered to the proper depth a weight, y, of thepeculiar form shown, is slipped over the rope or wire and allowed tofall from the top of the well. Said Weight is made of such a form thatit shall fit upon the cone d of the cap, and the lower thin edge of theweight strikes upon and i gnites the cartridge or cartridges, the,object of the cone d being to guide the lower edge of the falling weightto the cartridge.

By this arrangement of parts certainty of explosion is guaranteed, thewhole apparatus is simple and cheaplyT made, and the cartridges f f areso -placed as to oifer no risk of premature explosion fromaccidentalcontact with foreign bodies. No packing is neces sary, and thedanger of wrapping a rubber tube around a hammer and nipple upona loadedshell is avoided.

Within the shell, and communicating with each of the cartridges ff, Iplace one or more hollow perforated tubes, h h, corresponding in numberwith the number of cartridges used, extending from said cartridges to,or nearly to, the bottom of the shell. These tubes are attached to thecap c, and are inserted into the shell from its upper end. The cap isscrewed in, the shell inverted and filled through the h ole in the lowerend thereof, the powder entuely surrounding, but not entering, the tubesWhen the cartridge f is ,ignitedy the flame therefromiiashes through andcompletely fills the tube rvh, and'v communicates, through theIperforations, with the powder around it.

Having thus vdescribed my improvements,

what I claim as my specific invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. The described arrangement of the cone d, weight 9, and cartridges fj;said cone serving as a guide t0 the descending we1ght, as

' and for 'the purposes set forth.

2. The hollow perforated tubes lh h, in com` bination with thepercussion-cartridges f f and loaded shell a, for the purpose ofdistributing the flame, substantially as set forth.

FREDERICK OROGKER.

Witnesses A. B. HOWLAND, J. J. HOLDEN.

